


Just Through The Woods

by starriieyes



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 10:32:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18233717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starriieyes/pseuds/starriieyes
Summary: Noah moves into an old wooden cabin out in the woods on the outskirts of his hometown, out in the middle of nowhere, Canada. His friends are opposed to the idea, saying that there may be some truth to the rumours surrounding it. At first he chose to ignore them, but after meeting his new neighbours, Cody and Trent, he begins to think there may be something to those rumours after all.





	Just Through The Woods

Noah looked up at his new home, his keys letting out little metallic noises as they bumped into each other. There was a _click_ and the front door swung open, dust flying up into the air. Noah sneezed a little, before walking in and looking around.

Noah, being the youngest of nine children, had always been quite a fan of the quiet, and his friends had always respected that (his family tried, but there was eleven people going in and out of the house at all times, making silence hard to come by). That didn't meant they didn't object to him buying a secluded wooden cabin out in the woods, with a driveway longer than the majority of the roads in their small town.

Their objections only became more prevalent after they found out the rumours surrounding said cabin. Apparently the woods, especially around the clearing the cabin had been built in, had a history of... peculiar sightings. There were the usual things, cloaked figures standing far out in the distance, appearing for a second before dashing behind a tree, which could easily be a startled deer, or the odd noises that were just the hoot of an owl echoing through the trees.

Then there were the things that were harder to explain, like mentions of people riding headless horses, shooting arrows at passers-by made of an unknown rock and hastily carved spruce wood, or the whispers of people walking straight out of trees, flowers growing and blooming wherever they stepped and bright green leaves and vines flowing from their heads.

Of course, Noah had never believed any of the supposed nonsense he had heard for a second. Owen, his easily manipulated but also very well-meaning closest friend, had instantly gone from against Noah's decision to move out to such a secluded area to for it as soon as he heard his, admittedly very blunt and concise, explanation as to why he believed the myths were "complete and utter bull crap".

The others, Izzy and Eva, were not so easily swayed. Eva may not have believed that any of the strange creatures existed, but she certainly did believe that the cabin was, in its current state, not the best possible choice for Noah. It was quite the old build, with an outhouse instead of an indoors toilet being one of many old-fashioned inconveniences. Although Eva meant well, it did not help her case when she called Noah a lazy, nerdy weakling who would most likely piss his pants to stay warm indoors when it came time for the harsh Canadian winters, than venture outside to the toilet.

Izzy was insane, plain and simple. She had also been trying to hook Noah up ever since he had come out to them a few months prior, and him being so far away from any good meet-up spots was certainly going to make her self-assigned job as matchmaker far more difficult. Noah only saw this as more of a reason to leave, as the last blind date he had been on thanks to Izzy ended up with him stuck in the passenger's seat of a stolen vehicle as they ran from the cops.

Needless to say, Noah was more than happy when it turned out he'd been the only one to even consider the house since it had gone up for sale some twenty years ago. The doors squeaked and the floorboards creaked, but it fitted his needs, and that was all that mattered. Noah could hear the sound of a car pulling up outside, and then the familiar cackling of Izzy as she ran out of the car and pounced on her friend, sending him straight to the ground.

"Izzy! For Christ's sake, how many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" Noah said, pushing the redhead off of himself. She ran around the house, sniffing everything she came across, before heading upstairs and looking in all the rooms. The tan man sighed as he sat up, brushing himself off.

The next of his three friends to greet him was Owen, who easily lifted him up into a tight bear hug. "Hey little buddy!" The larger man laughed, before setting Noah back down. "Sorry about Izzy. I kept telling her on the way over here that she shouldn't jump on you, but you know how she is." Owen let out a chuckle as Noah rolled his eyes, although he did smile.

"I'm not sure how you manage to put up with her all day, everyday, Owen. I can barely handle being around her for longer than two minutes." A third voice came from behind Owen, and the blonde stepped aside to reveal Eva, her hands tucked away in the pockets of her navy blue hoodie. She walked in and looked around, taking in every last detail of the house around her.

"Nice to see you too, Eva." Noah mumbled, closing the front door as Owen bounced around the living room, undoubtedly in search of the kitchen. He managed to assemble his two friends that had remained downstairs into a tour group, with Noah as the guide, showing them around his house just in case they went out of their way to visit.

Eva had been very happy to learn that Noah had left a room empty so she could store any equipment she was unable to put away in her flat, whilst Owen was just glad there was a kitchen. Eventually they had managed to find Izzy, who was bouncing up and down excitedly next to a window in the master bedroom, pointing out to the woods.

"Look! Look! A goat boy!" She said as soon as the group had entered, her eyes never leaving the window. Noah rolled his eyes and led Owen and Eva over to the window. He looked out to the trees in the distance, where he saw a small figure, half of their body hiding behind a tree.

Noah couldn't make out any of their features, but they had pale skin and light brown hair, and were remarkably good at staying still. After about a minute they ran off into the woods, revealing their lower body as they did so. Noah could swear he saw a pair of hooves and some oddly shaped, brown legs, but he shook it off as the distance making him see things funny. It was about time he took another trip to visit the optometrist, anyways.

"Izzy told you guys there was weird stuff out here!" Izzy cackled, jumping up and down before rushing out of the room, Owen and Eva following her, one out of fear and caution, and the other because she had grown bored quickly. Noah had taken a bit longer, still confused by what he had seen, before going out to the front door to see his friends off.

As soon as the car was gone, Noah heard the soft _pat pat_ of a pair of feet running across the moist dirt. A man with a boyish face came running out of the woods, a baseball cap on his head, covering the majority of his mop of brown hair, and an excited look on his face. He wore a sweater and long baggy pants, as well as shoes that Noah assumed were too big for him, as he almost fell flat on his face multiple times.

"Cody, wait!" A voice came from the trees, joined shortly after by the cracking of small twigs and branches as another person appeared. This one was sat in a wheelchair, with short black hair framing his square face. He had a camp shirt on, and there was a black blanket covering the entirety of his lower half.

The other boy, who Noah could only assume was named Cody, stopped running towards his cabin, walking back to the one in the wheelchair. Cody helped manoeuvre him around a tree root he had gotten stuck on, before running forward with the wheelchair in front of him, taking Trent by surprise.

The two of them finally came to a stop right in front of the steps up to the cabin. "Hi! I'm Cody, and this is Trent! We're your neighbours!" Cody waved excitedly, a wide, gap-toothed grin on his face.

•・・・•・・・•

Noah had, albeit reluctantly, invited the two new acquaintances into his home. At first he'd thought that might be difficult, considering Trent's situation, but Cody was a lot stronger than he looked, apparently, as he had dragged the wheelchair, with Trent still in it, of course, up the steps without any difficulty.

"We're kinda like adopted brothers? I dunno, it's weird, but we've been raised together for as long as I can remember," Cody said. Noah had asked how long the two had known each other, which he soon came to regret, as it had taken Cody what felt like an hour to finish his story, "Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, eight of them," Noah was surprised to see Cody completely unfazed by the thought of nine young children all running around the house with only two adults around, "I'm the youngest by about ten or so minutes. It sucks."

That was when Cody's face lit up in intrigue. "You have a twin? That's so cool!" The two of them were sitting on a couch together, with Trent checking out as much of the ground floor as he could. Cody shuffled over so he was sitting closer to Noah, so close in fact, that their knees were touching. "What are they like?"

"Well, uh," Noah tried to hide his slight discomfort by looking around the room instead of directly at his neighbour, "his name's Honey, and we're identical twins. Which is funny, since we're, uh, nothing alike." He cleared his throat nervously, hoping Cody would back off.

Instead, the smaller of the two gently placed his hand over top of Noah's, causing him to look down at it. Cody's hands were warm and soft, but the tips of his fingers were an ashy grey, as if he'd just been digging through the old coals of a campfire, and his nails stubby and short, coated in a matte black paint.

Before Cody could comment, however, Trent had wheeled back into the living room, and seeing the scene, let out a loud sigh. "Damn it, Cody, not again."

The boy in question looked over at his friend, an innocent smile on his face. "Why, whatever would you mean by that, Trent?" He asked, intertwining his fingers with Noah's.

"I swear to Pan, you do this every time we meet someone new." Trent huffed. "I get it, it's in your nature to act this way or whatever, but could you stop flirting with every new person we meet?"

Cody sighed, letting go of Noah's hand and moving back to his original spot, something Noah was very grateful for. "But it's so fun! And Noah's just so _cute-_ "

"Cody."

"Fine! We better get going anyways." Cody got up off the couch, and smiled warmly at Noah. "I'm sorry we have to go so soon, but you know how it is, right? With schedules, and all." The brunette gently grabbed Noah's hand, pulling a pen out of his pocket, and scrawling down his number. "Hope you don't mind, I don't have any paper and I doubt you do. Call me, maybe?"

With a wink and a click of his pen, Cody was out the door with Trent, the only proof of their visit being the number written on the palm of Noah's hand. He could hardly comprehend what had just happened; what had started as a normal conversation with a relatively normal guy had very quickly devolved into... whatever _that_ had been.

Noah decided to think about it in a long, quiet, relaxing car drive to a cafe in town. Then he'd be able to think over it a bit more, but with a cup of coffee. He walked outside, calmed ever so slightly by the cheerful chirping of birds in the trees, getting into his car and then driving down the driveway.

There were lots of things that were... off, to Noah, about Trent and Cody. Why hadn't he ever seen them around town before? It's not like it was a big place, and then there was the matter of school. The more he thought about it, the more things didn't add up, and the next thing Noah knew, he was inside the town's local cafe, being greeted by one of it's owners.

"Hey, Noel!" Lindsay said happily, waving. At first, Noah had been incredibly annoyed with the fact that the ditzy blonde couldn't remember his name, God forbid anyone else's aside from her girlfriend's, but he'd gotten used to it after a while. "What would you like today?"

"Just a black coffee, please." He mumbled, pulling a handful of change out of his pocket and tossing it over the counter. He was still thinking about his neighbours, and wasn't really in the mood to count out how much he had probably overpaid Lindsay at that moment.

Noah took a seat at one of the tables by the cafe's large front window, resting his hands on the table's surface with his palms up. Cody's number was still there, of course, although it was smudged a little. His handwriting was like that of a child's, with the numbers all messy and in plenty of different sizes.

There was the familiar chime of the bell, signalling someone had either entered or left. Noah glanced up to see which one it was, only to find it was an unfamiliar face. His brows furrowed in confusion as he watched them go to the front counter, practically gliding across the ground.

This new stranger had green hair, cut into a short bob that ended where her chin did. Her skin was pale, and her face caked up with goth makeup, her clothing style reflective of it. Something Noah found odd, however, was how occasionally a leaf or a flower would spill out of the top of her boots.

"Here's your coffee, Noah." Noah stopped staring at the new girl to see Dawn standing above him, the coffee he had ordered on a small saucer.

"Thanks." Noah nodded as Dawn put his order down on the table, before heading back behind the counter, giving Lindsay a little kiss on the cheek as she did so. Noah took a sip from his drink, before looking back down at his palm.

After a few more moments of internal debating, Noah took out his phone and put the number into his contacts, telling himself that the only reason he was doing so was because he needed answers. Totally not because he got a weird feeling thinking about how Cody had been acting towards him before.

•・・・•・・・•

Noah ended up not calling Cody that day. Can't give him the wrong idea, that's what he had told himself. He had gotten into his pyjamas and was comfortable under his bed covers, just about to fall asleep, when he heard a loud knocking from downstairs.

The tan boy threw off the covers and hurried downstairs, squinting as he put on the lights once he reached the landing as he grew accustomed to the light. "Do you have any idea how late it is?!" Noah asked, not bothering to check who was at his door before he unlocked it.

"Late?" It was Cody. Because of course it was. He chuckled nervously. "Look, I'm sorry dude, but uh, I lost my cap, and I kinda really need it, so I was hoping you'd help me look for it?" Cody's hair was extremely messy, almost as if he had ruffled it on purpose.

"Why can't Trent help you?" Noah grumbled, leaving the door open so Cody could come in and escape the midnight cold.

"I'm pretty sure he's over at Gwen's place." Quickly, he continued, when Cody realised Noah had absolutely no idea who he was talking about. "His girlfriend. Green hair, a little bit taller than me, I'm letting you know just in case you ever see her around. She tends to have a lot of flowers in weird places."

"I think I've seen her around. Goth?" Cody nodded, and Noah let out a little 'ah' of confirmation. He walked up to his bedroom and grabbed a torch from a small set of drawers under his desk, shoved a jumper over his head, and put on a pair of socks before heading back down.

After slipping on a pair of shoes, the two headed out together, walking in near silence as leaves and twigs made crunching noises beneath their feet. Noah ended up falling behind Cody, swinging the torch from left to right and back again in search of his cap. Occasionally the light would stay on the back of Cody's head a little too long, and Noah would see the shine of something small in his hair, but it would go just as quickly as it came as he continued his search.

There was an anxious feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach, however. After a few minutes, Noah decided it'd be a good time to ask. "Hey, so, I've heard that there's some... weird things that have been seen around here." Noah rubbed the back of his neck as Cody turned to look at him. Were his pupils always like little horizontal rectangles? "Now, normally I'm not one to believe that sort of thing, but you've been here longer, so..."

Cody smirked, getting a little closer so they weren't standing so far apart. Noah could only hope it was so he could hear him better over owls hooting or leaves and bushes rustling. "You shouldn't be so skeptical, Noah. There are plenty of things that can't be explained by logic; sometimes you've just got to believe the unbelievable.

"As for whether they're true or not?" Cody let out a small laugh, stepping even closer to the other boy. So close, in fact, that Noah could feel the warmth in his breath brushing over his lips, causing him to suppress a shiver. "What if they were? Would you do something about it?" His voice was low and his eyes lidded.

Noah had so many thoughts running through his mind at that moment that he was surprised he managed to let out a "No." Cody moved back, the look on his face instantly changing into a more cheerful one. They continued to walk down the path in silence, although Cody had tried to start up a conversation again at multiple points, only to be met with dismissive grunts from Noah.

It wasn't that Noah was trying to be rude (for once), it was just that he was too focused on trying to figure out Cody to be involved in anything else at that moment. There was a wide variety of things, from how his attitude could very easily change from flirty to cheerful and childish. Then there was that weird shining in his hair, which Noah was now very certain was not just a part of his imagination.

Cody let out a gasp, bringing Noah out of his trance as the boy bent down to the ground. His hair moved slightly, and that's when Noah saw them. A set of short, stubby goat horns entangled amongst his locks. Millions of questions flooded Noah's mind, the main one being whether they were real or not, and the next one being how he could be so stupid to ask such a thing.

The short brunette stood back up, his cap now in his hands and his horns hidden underneath his hair once more. "Thanks, Noah! I'm not sure I would've been able to find my cap without you!" Cody laughed a little, and Noah silently thanked his ability to look bored and uncaring no matter the situation at that moment. "I'll be going now. My place isn't too far from here."

Noah found that strange, after all, Cody had said he'd lost the hat. How would he know whether they were close to his place or not? "I hope to see you again tomorrow, Noah." Cody winked, before turning around and walking off.

"Uh... yeah..." Was all Noah managed to get out as he watched him leave. He had been hoping for answers, but all he had gotten from his mysterious neighbour was more questions.

•・・・•・・・•

Noah was, once again, in the local cafe. He had been there for a while, evident by the fact there were bags under his eyes and that Lindsay was having to ask him if he was really sure that it would be a good idea to have his seventh coffee. "Lindsay, what is wrong?" Dawn asked, her voice soft as she set aside some dirty dishes. "Your aura isn't reflective of your normal happy demeanour."

Lindsay looked up and smiled, seeing the worried and loving look in her girlfriend's eyes. "I'm fine, Dawn! It's just Noel..." She glanced over at the brunette, who was busy writing notes as he took a bite into a croissant. "He never gets this much coffee normally."

Dawn looked over at Noah. He did seem out of it, and his aura was dark with confusion. "I will go check on him, if that makes you feel better." Lindsay's smile turned into a happy grin as she hugged Dawn, letting out a long string of 'thank you's.

After finally being freed from her girlfriend's arms, Dawn walked over to Noah's table. The poor boy looked like he was about to drop dead from exhaustion, as he weakly took another sip from his coffee. "Noah." She said, causing him to jump.

"Oh. I didn't see you there, Dawn." Noah said, although he mumbled so much it ended up coming out more like a bunch of m's strung together. "Can I get another coffee please?"

Dawn sighed, taking the seat opposite him. "Your aura is all dark and cloudy, Noah. What is the issue?" Noah squinted, examining her face, before spinning his laptop around so she could take a look at the screen. On it was a Wikipedia article detailing all the attributes of creatures from Ancient Greek myth. "...I do not believe I understand."

Noah sounds the device back around, his eyes glued to the screen. "You know how I moved to that cabin in the woods?" He asked, and Dawn nodded. "Yeah, well, turns out I have a few... strange neighbours, to put it lightly."

"And you are researching satyrs and nymphs because...?"

"Because I think one of them is a satyr." Noah rubbed the bridge of his nose, before looking Dawn in the eyes. "I know it sounds crazy, but-"

"I believe you."

"What?"

"I said I believe you." Dawn spun Noah's laptop around so she could look at it again. "If you are convinced of this, which your aura says you are, then I am not going to doubt you. But you said there were more; do you think they may be satyrs too?"

Noah shook his head, his tiredness letting up as he began to explain. "There are two of them, but only one of them could be a satyr. I'm fairly certain that this other guy knows that but my only question is _why_ he would willingly live with a half-goat, half-man... thing. So far he looks entirely human, but I thought the same about the first one, so..." Dawn nodded, lost in thought.

"What are their names?" She asked, the familiar clicking sound of the mouse beginning to become more prominent as she dug deeper on the internet.

"Uh... Cody and Trent. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything." Noah shuffled around the table to see what Dawn was doing. "And there's this girl named Gwen, too. She's Trent's girlfriend. Or at least, that's what Cody says."

Dawn's brows furrowed as the clicking of the mouse stopped. "There are no Cody, Trent, or Gwens in this town, aside from a girl we served yesterday. We had never seen her before though, so it is likely she was just passing through." She turned to Noah, her lips forming a little pout. "I cannot find information on either of those three."

Noah looked at the screen of his laptop. Dawn had searched up for a census of their town, and there was, indeed, no one with any of those names in their town. That's what the census said, anyways. "I'll give Cody a call. Maybe I can get some information out of him." Dawn glances at her friend, giving him a small smile before nodding and walking back to the front counter, where Lindsay was serving a customer.

Shutting his laptop down, Noah brought his phone out of his pocket and searched for Cody's name in his contacts. His phone began to ring, and he put it to his ear, shoving his laptop into his bag and throwing some money onto his table as he waited for Cody to answer.

There was a click, followed by a crackle, and Cody's voice came through the phone. "Hey, Noah! How's it going?" His voice was light and cheerful, and there were a few giggles here and there, not just from the boy, but from some audience members who Noah was unable to identify.

"Good, good. Hey, do you think you could come over to my place? I wanted to talk to you about something." There were whoops and hollers in the background, shortly followed by a loud splash of someone doing a canonball into a large body of water. "Where are you anyways?"

Cody chuckled nervously, and the sounds of whatever that had been began to grow fainter. "Of course I can come over. Name a time, and I'll be there. As for where I am... uh..." There was a pause, and Noah almost wondered if Cody's phone had died or something, before he spoke up again, "I'm at this lake out near my house. Nothing special."

"How about you come over at 3? By then I'll have finished what I need to do, and that gives you plenty of time to keep hanging out at that lake of yours." Noah opened the driver's side of his car, tossing the bag with his laptop in it still into the passenger's side.

"Sounds great. It's a date!" Cody's voice was just as cheery as normal, but Noah could almost sense a sort of nervousness behind it. "See you soon, Noah!" There was a crackling noise again, and Cody had hung up.

Noah couldn't help but feel warm and fuzzy all over, thanks to Cody calling what was, or originally was anyways, a formal interrogation something entirely different. His face felt flushed as he began to wonder what he was going to do for this... 'date'. It's not like he had the best experiences on those. What was the last one again? Oh yeah, that's right, a _car robbery_. It was sheer luck that he wasn't the first person his date had dragged along for major crimes, and that the authorities already knew the delinquent well.

Just as Noah began to drive off, there was a loud _thump_ and suddenly Izzy was on the hood of his car, crouched down like a feral animal, a wide grin splitting her face in two. Noah let out a loud scream, accidentally hitting his car horn in the process, causing the crazy girl to jump.

Noah rolled down his window and hung his head out the window, sending a fiery glare to his friend. "Izzy, what on _earth_ are you doing?" Izzy jumped up and down in excitement, causing the car to rock back and forth a little as she clapped her hands together.

"Izzy overheard the wonderful news! Noah is going on a date!" Izzy jumped off the car. Instead of leaving, however, she opened up the passenger's side door and jumped in, resting her chin on her knees as she brought them up to her chest. "What's he like? Is he cute? Oh, Izzy bets it's that model guy, what's-his-face!"

Noah scoffed, rolling his eyes. "As if I'd date someone with an IQ lower than my childhood dog's." Izzy buckled herself in, and Noah quickly realised she wouldn't be leaving any time soon. "How'd you hear what I was talking about anyways?"

"Izzy has her genetically modified ways!" The redhead cackled, clearly pleased with the incredulous look she had gotten as an answer. Noah began to drive home, as Izzy continued to ramble on about whatever new thing popped into her head.

When they finally made it back to Noah's place, Izzy immediately jumped out of the car, rolling into the nearby bushes as she giggled crazily. Noah looked at her in confusion, before turning to see Cody on the steps, waiting for him. He hadn't even realised the time; five minutes past three.

Cody was dressed differently from the day before, with a more preppy yet nerdy sort of attire on instead of his casual wear from yesterday. He still had his hat on, of course, and the same shoes. Seeing as Noah had just arrived, he grinned and waved happily, a light pink dusting his cheeks.

"H-hey, Noah!" Cody said, playing around with one of his shirt sleeves. "I was beginning to think you'd ditched." The boy let out a nervous chuckle as Noah went up the steps, unlocking his front door and letting them both inside.

Noah took a seat on his couch, and Cody soon followed, sitting so close that their shoulders touched. "There is the rest of the couch you could sit on. You don't have invade my personal space." Noah stated, looking away.

Cody let out a small, high-pitched laugh, before resting one hand on Noah's cheek, forcing him to look at the smaller brunette. "You invite me over to your house for a date, and then you don't want me to get close to you? By Pan, you're confusing." Cody's eyes were lidded as he leaned in so his mouth was next to Noah's ear, his warm breath sending shivers down Noah's spine. "But I do love a man of mystery."

Although he had been previously frozen to the spot, Noah managed to push Cody away before he could make any further advances on him. He didn't know what it was, but something about Cody was making it hard for him to act the way he normally did; aloof, nonchalant, bored, they all escaped him whenever _he_ was around.

"I didn't... well, I wasn't trying to, but, I didn't ask you to come here for a date." Noah took a deep breath, running a hand through his hair. His face was practically on fire, and he could tell. Apparently Cody could, as well, as there was a sly smirk on his face, although the gap in his teeth made it look more like a strange smile. "I asked you to come here so I could interrogate you."

Cody's expression instantly changed into one of shock. "What for? I haven't done anything bad! How could you think that I-" And his mood changed again as a thought crossed his mind, that same smirk from before coming across his face. "Unless this is your strange way of finding out how many people I've been with before? That's so sweet, you want to be the first!" Cody laughed, and Noah felt himself become more annoyed. Not aggravated, but annoyed.

Setting aside how strange it was for him to feel annoyance rather than aggravation at Cody's persistence, Noah took a deep breath to compose himself, and began to speak. "No, it's not about that. I, uh, I know. What you are, I mean. I know what you are."

Cody blinked once, then twice, his face completely blank. His eyes were wide, and he had gone from extremely expressive to as still as a statue, refusing to give anything away. He adjusted his hat, pulling it forward as if that would help hide them- the _horns-_ better. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Last night, in the woods, when we were looking for your hat. I saw them." Noah edged closer Cody, reaching out for his hat, causing the other to back away. "Your horns. You're a satyr, aren't you?" Cody bit his lip and looked down, allowing Noah to grab his hat and pull it off.

Cody let out a loud gasp, and instantly his hands flew up to cover the horns on his head. Noah's eyebrows furrowed in response, and he set the hat aside. Carefully, he brought his hands up so they hovered over Cody's, and after making sure the other was alright, held his hands and brought them down slowly.

"Humans uh, aren't really supposed to know creatures like me exist." Cody muttered, refusing to meet Noah's gaze. Hesitantly, he intertwined their fingers, but Noah didn't pull away. "Trent's gonna be super mad..."

"What's Trent, then?" Cody looked up, confused by the question. "I mean, clearly he isn't a satyr, otherwise he'd have a hat or something to cover his head, like you." Noah began to run his hand through Cody's hair, pleased by how soft it was to the touch.

"I could tell you that, and a lot more, but it'd cost you." Cody was now facing Noah properly, with Noah's hand on the back of his head, their faces mere inches apart; a fact Noah was extremely aware of. The satyr grinned, edging ever so slightly closer. "Nothing much, really. Just a kiss."

Noah felt his face heat up more than it already had, but his curiosity and... feelings for the boy opposite him outweighed the part that told him not to kiss him. Quickly, he closed the gap between the two of them, although only for a few seconds, the grip Noah held on the back of Cody's head tightening ever so slightly.

Cody was quite clearly shocked, but shook it off, replacing it with a smile. "That was, uh... yeah. Okay! Sweet!" The brunette grabbed his hat and put it on his head, his cheeks tinted a brighter shade of pink from normal. "Since you already figured out what I am I'll just, uh, show you the others. Is that okay? I hope that's okay."

There was something about the flustered manner the previously flirtatious boy was acting that made a smile slip onto Noah's face. "Yeah. That's okay." He said, getting up and leaving his house with Cody, locking up behind them.

As he followed Cody through the woods to wherever or whatever it was that he stayed at, Noah decided to take a chance, albeit it was a smaller one than the unexpectedly ecstatic kiss from before. He let his hand brush against Cody's, and felt a warm feeling in his chest when the smaller boy blushed again.

He held Cody's hand for the rest of the trip, failing to notice the rustling or giggling coming from the bushes nearby as Izzy followed them, making sure she could fulfill her self-assigned matchmaker role as best as she could by keeping an eye on their relationship.

•・・・•・・・•

"Hey everyone, I'm back!" Cody announced, stepping into a clearing with Noah's hand still in his. It was nothing like Noah had ever seen before; the lake right in the middle of it all was sparkling blue and so clear that you could see the bottom, whilst the trees let in enough of the golden rays of sun that it seemed to make everything glow beautifully.

Trent was the first to notice Cody had come back, and, by extension, the first to notice that Noah most definitely should not have been there. However, Noah wasn't entirely sure that it _was_ Trent. Sure, the upper half looked exactly like him, but the lower half was not that of a wheelchair-confined adult human being.

No, instead, there was the body of a horse, it's coat a black just as dark as the hair on top of Trent's head, with long, strong legs and a shiny tail. He ushered the two newcomers back into the woods quickly, before everyone else could notice they had arrived, a stern look on his face.

When he was sure no one would listen in on their conversation, Trent looked back down at Noah and Cody. He easily towered over the two of them, something Cody seemed fine with, although Noah did not share the same uncaring nature as his... what were they now, anyways? It's not everyday you come face to face with a centaur who just so happens to be your neighbour.

"What is he doing here, Cody? He's- he's human! You know this!" Trent hissed, running one of his hands through his hair. Although Noah did not enjoy being talked about like he wasn't there, he thought it was still better than the alternative of speaking up and being the one questioned instead.

"Yeah, well, he found out we aren't, and I made a promise to... uh..." Cody shook his head quickly as his face became redder yet again, remembering the kiss from earlier. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that he knows we aren't human, and it's better that we show him what's going on before something worse. Like, Sierra worse."

The two shuddered, remembering back to an incident Noah wasn't sure he wanted to know about. Thankfully, however, that was a story Noah would be able to learn another time, although preferably never, based on the reactions of his two neighbours. Trent looked between the two of them, before letting out a sigh.

"I guess you're right. But he better not ask too many questions." Trent crossed his arms, walking back to the lake. "And he definitely shouldn't tell anyone else."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he won't!" Cody said happily, squeezing Noah's hand slightly as he turned to look at him. The two stood there for a bit, just staring at each other, the distance between each other slowly getting smaller and smaller as they continued to gaze into each other's eyes.

Just before their lips met, however, Cody let go of Noah's hand, resting it onto his back. "Cody, what are you-" The satyr then proceeded to wrap his arm around Noah's waist, dipping him down so that he was almost completely parallel to the ground.

There was a big grin on Cody's face, his hair lightly touching Noah's forehead and their noses touching. To steady himself, as he was just about ready to fall between Cody's arms, Noah wrapped his arms around Cody's neck, pulling him closer in the process.

They kissed, this time for longer than before. Far longer, as it soon turned out, as they managed to be standing in an upright position yet again when they finally pulled away. The two boys refused to look at each other, their faces heating up, although they did hold hands as they reentered the party scene by the lake.

Silently, Noah thanked his stubbornness for getting himself through his friend's protests. Because if he hadn't bought that cabin out in the woods, then he would probably never have met Cody, or gotten involved in a whole other life full of different things like satyrs, and wood nymphs, and Ancient Greek gods. 

It sure was difficult to get Izzy not to spill everything to Owen and Eva, but by hell it was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this oneshot!! i dont plan on continuing it, unless some spectacular and unexpected idea pops into my head, but it was super fun to write. oh well, time to get back to camp tv! which i promise im working on. it just turns out eliminating or just straight up not including a lot of characters who had canon fears is making phobia factor kinda hard to write :/  
> if camp tv isnt the next thing updated, then itll probably just be another oneshot. this time with a different favourite rarepair: brick/tom! i have my reasons i swear.


End file.
